What is DSN-Less ODBC?
In a previous article, Problematic or Programmatic ODBC, I described the various ways I have used to distribute a DSN (ODBC Data Source Name) to users of my client/server applications. Towards the end of that article, I mentioned an Access Database Application I created to serve as a tutorial for people with questions about reconnecting linked MS Access tables to SQL Server using DSN-Less ODBC. This article will focus on the details of that tutorial, which is available for download. DSN-Less ODBC simply means that instead of storing connection information (like server, database, etc.) in a file or the Windows Registry, you have plunked them into a connect string, which is then associated with some data object, like an Access linked table. Here is an example of the connect string generated by my tutorial: ODBC;DRIVER={SQL Server};SERVER=cliff;DATABASE=pubs;UID=sa;PWD=; You will notice that there are five parameters that need to be populated: DRIVER={SQL Server} SERVER=cliff DATABASE=pub
